US Surrendering Internet to "Broader Online Community"

The US administration on Thursday endorsed a plan to cede its oversight of the gatekeeper of Internet addresses to the broader online community. Commerce Department assistant secretary for communications and information Lawrence Strickling told AFP that the proposal from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meets the criteria set by the US administration.

The plan aims to maintain Internet governance under a “multi-stakeholder” model which avoids control of the online ecosystem by any single governmental body.

“The Internet’s multi-stakeholder community has risen to the challenge we gave them to develop a transition proposal that would ensure the Internet’s domain name system will continue to operate as seamlessly as it currently does,” Strickling said. US oversight of ICANN had “irritated” some governments, which used what was Strickling depicted as a mainly clerical responsibility to vie for greater control of the Internet. FULL REPORT